Ichor is Thicker
by Millennialice
Summary: OR: How Paul Found Out About Percy's Other Side of the Family
1. Teaser Trailer

AN: Anyone up for a good old fashioned PJO short story featuring the monster of the week? This story takes place the day after Percy's 15th birthday, the day after Battle of the Labryinth ends and really doesn't serve any purpose for the rest of the series except to provide Percy with another adventure, but it is fun, and I hope you like it.

Thank you to icy roses for beta reading this for me, catching my mistakes and giving valuable input. Seriously, this story would still be moldering away on my computer if I hadn't sent it your way, I really can't thank you enough.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, etc., etc.

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Some days, you shouldn't even bother getting out of bed.

When you're a demigod, and you get that feeling, you learn to go with it. It will save you from all sorts of grief like getting your head bitten off – literally.

Some days though, you just have to risk it. Like when a girl from school who's sort of pretty and thinks you're kind of cool asks you to go to the movies the day after your birthday. Those are the days when you grab your deadly ballpoint pen, tell your mom and Cyclops little brother you'll be back in a few hours, and just hope for the best.

I shouldn't have risked it.

Rachel had called that morning, saying I owed her a huge explanation, and that I needed to meet her, and oh yeah, did I want to go see a movie? Maybe a smarter person would have said no, with the countdown for the possible end of the world reading at less than a year, and pretty much every monster in the country out for my blood, but I said yes.

I had a good reason though. I wanted – I needed - to get out of the apartment. I had gotten used to it being just my mom and me there, but this morning it was a lot more crowded. Paul left last evening, but he stopped by early this morning for breakfast, and hadn't left yet. I guess I'll have to get used to him being around, since he's going to marry my mom, but he wasn't the only extra person there.

Tyson slept over after our party yesterday, and Nico had pretty much fallen asleep mid sentence on the floor last night. When I left this morning, he was in the middle of what had to be his sixth nap today. I don't know, maybe it's a child of Hades thing, and they like to sleep during the day. Probably in a coffin.

So seeing a movie with Rachel was not the worse idea in the world, or so I had thought. And it wasn't. It was the walk back to my place where the trouble started. We were having a good time and trading stories. I was telling her about how Grover once ate a hackey sack, and she told me about how a demonstration of hers once got out of hand and ended up flooding her father's country club.

Rachel is really easy to talk to. Most of the time she laughs with me, not at me, she doesn't interrupt me to correct my pronunciation of Ancient Greek, and she hasn't been with me on most of my quests, so she can't accuse me of exaggerating my stories. We were having a lot of fun together, and it wasn't at all about prophecies or choices or the end of the world.

So I wasn't thinking about anything serious when we heard the screams.

A group of kids a few years older than us ran out of an alleyway a few feet in front of us. They were yelling things about "monster" and "exterminators." One even let out a small, high pitched "Help!" as he passed us.

"There's something behind that building," Rachel said, peering around the brick building on our left.

"Really," I said pulling out Riptide. I uncapped the pen and it transformed into my sword made of celestial bronze. "What was your first clue?"

"It's big, whatever it is," she continued. She was seeing something I couldn't through the Mist. "The building's in the way, I can't really see it."

"Right," I said, starting forward. "Sounds like my cue. Be right back."

"Aren't you supposed to use a phone booth or something?" Rachel called from behind me. "You know, protect your secret identity?"

I turned around so that I was jogging backwards down the alley and lifted Riptide in a sort of salute at her. I was trying to be all macho and cool because, hey, I had the chance and I wanted to impress her. "Don't worry, I do this all the time! I'll be -"

I tripped over a garbage can and fell to the hard pavement. Riptide flew out my hand and skittered a few feet away. My head snapped back and would have cracked on the ground if not for a bag full of something soft that sort of squished and formed a pillow instead when I landed. The silver can shot out from under my leg and clattered down the alley in a big circle until it hit the wall with a clang. The rest of the trash scattered behind it.

"You were going to say 'fine' weren't you?" Rachel stood above me with her eyebrows raised and stretched out her hand. "Are you okay?"

I took her hand and pulled myself up. My hand had gotten scratched up when I hit the ground, but the bleeding had already stopped. "I'm fine," I said. My other hand had landed in something sticky, and I tried to wipe it off on my jeans. My mom wasn't going to be too happy to see the hole that had just appeared in them.

"I hope you weren't planning on a surprise attack." Rachel reached over and dusted off my shoulder. It was covered in little pieces of something pale yellow. It was popcorn. There must have been some sort of theater in the building we were next to, because the bag that had become my emergency pillow was stuffed with popcorn. It was leaking out of a hole now, and the wind was blowing it all over the alley like a yellow, mid-August snowstorm. My hand must have landed in someone's old soda. Gross.

She looked down the alley that was now lined with popcorn and brightly colored candy wrappers, like someone had thrown a snack parade. The metal trashcan caught the wind and rolled noisily for a few more feet. "So, I'm thinking I should probably go with you." She pulled a Snicker wrapper off the side of my T-shirt, where some caramel had made it stick. "Maybe I can help."

I went over and picked up Riptide. The point of the blade had a Hot Tamales box over it, and I took that off and crushed it under my shoe. It was probably my pride that was hurt worse of all. Once, just _once_, I would like to be the guy who could say something cool while he ran off to save the day, and wouldn't trip over anything on the way there.

"I don't think so," I said as I turned back to her. I swung Riptide through her shoulder to make my point. "There's a reason why mortals don't fight these things."

I would have explained that I would have wanted her help, except I didn't know if she could even pick up a celestial bronze weapon, much less fight with one, but another scream came from around a corner down the alleyway.

My grip tightened on my sword. "That's Annabeth."

Rachel's eyes went wide. "Are you sure? What's she even doing here?"

"Don't know, but that's her. I'm sure." I took off down the alley, faster this time.

"What can I do?" Rachel called after me.

"Go to my place and tell my mom what's happened," I called over my shoulder. I wasn't turning around this time. No more popcorn baths for Percy. I increased my speed. "Tell her I'm gonna be a little late." I heard her shoes running back down to the street.

I kept going. The alley was longer than I had first thought. I passed one intersecting passage, then another, and another and was coming up on the last one. I hadn't heard anything in a while, which I wasn't sure was a good thing. I picked up the pace, turned the last corner, and stopped fast.

One of the strangest things I had ever seen was in front of me.

* * *

AN: It's short, I know, but there is more on the way. I'm trying to find good places to cut up the story, so that will probably mean quite a few cliffhangers, sorry.


	2. The President of Athena's Fan Club

AN: Thank you to RANDOMuser5268, wisdomgoddess26, speedyteeny, and CoolWater123 for reviewing the last chapter. I'm glad I could make you laugh, and your reviews make my day!

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The alley had opened into an empty lot behind a row of buildings. There was a wall on the side opposite from me, and there were other buildings taller than the one next to me lining the other sides. The only way out was the way I had just come in.

A giant spider, maybe forty or fifty feet long, was on the wall of the building I had just come around. It was black and hairy, with legs easily three times longer than I was tall, and as big around as telephone poles. It was facing away from me, but it shifted and moved its four back legs, so that I could see the gray underbelly of its massive, bulbous body that hung below the bend of its legs. As it moved, the entire building shuddered. I even heard the sound of a window breaking.

But that wasn't the weird part.

Annabeth stood on the other end of the lot, facing the spider as she leaned against the wall. She was breathing heavily, and both of her hands were resting on her left hip like she had been hit there. And she was crying.

Let me tell you a few things about Annabeth. She's my age, but she has known she was a demigod for a lot longer. No one has been training at Camp Half-Blood longer than her. She has curly blonde hair, gray eyes, and has always been a little taller than me until I had finally caught up with her this past summer.

She is also a great swordfighter, but prefers to use her own long knife, which she is lethal with. In the years I have known her, I've only seen her cry maybe twice, and never in the middle of a fight. Seriously, mention the words "fight," "Annabeth," and "crying," in the same sentence, and you had would have been talking about the other guy.

But she was crying now, and that told me something was seriously wrong. I started towards her and called out, "Annabeth?"

She looked up and saw me. One of her hands shot down to grab her celestial bronze knife at her feet as she yelled, "Percy, watch out!"

I had only taken a few steps when the building groaned and eight legs landed all around me with a thud that knocked me off my feet. I crawled like a crab through two of the legs, and then swiped at them with Riptide. The sword bounced off them like they were covered in armor. Not even the hairs on the legs were harmed.

There was a high pitched hiss, like steam escaping from a teapot full of snakes. As I stood up, the spider turned to face me. For the first time I could see its face.

The spider had a giant human woman's head. Its face looked so much like Annabeth's that I had to look and make sure she was still in the corner of the alley. I couldn't see her around the giant spider, but I heard her shout.

"Be careful," Annabeth yelled to me, "she's fast, and you've got to watch where you hit her."

I turned back to the spider. She still stood between me and Annabeth, and was looking between us like she was trying to decide which she was going to eat first. Now that I looked a little closer, I could see differences between the two and not just because Annabeth only has two legs instead of eight. The spiderwoman's face was sharper, meaner, more like –

"Athena," I said. The spider smiled and I felt a little sick. Unfolding from behind her teeth were two large, hairy pincers. They hung in front of her mouth like a really bad set of braces and moved together and apart as she talked.

"No, hero," she said, "only her face. I wear it to spite the demon goddess for what she has done to me." Her voice sounded like a beautiful lady's voice and a deep gravelly moan mixed together. She shifted her body around to look at me better, and the earth shook so that we fell over again.

From my spot on the ground I could look through the spider's legs to where Annabeth was. She gestured for me to come over to her. I looked at her like she was crazy. After all, I was closer to the exit. She rolled her eyes, motioned again, as if to say _just do it, Seaweed Brain _before getting back on her feet_. _Sure, no problem. Just let me get around the killer spider bigger than a bus. Be there in a second. Can I get you anything while I'm up?

The spider looked down at me and smiled an awful smile. "I AM ARACHNE."

"Yeah," I said, getting back up, "I actually already had that one figured out, thanks." There couldn't be that many giant spiders who wanted vengeance against Athena out there. I hoped. Riptide was in my hand, and I started edging down the wall, closer to where I had last seen Annabeth. I gave the spider a little wave. "Hi, I'm Percy."

I think she was surprised, but it was hard to tell. Her eyes were perfectly round and solid grey in color. Two more smaller eyes were located by her temples on either side of her head. Instead of hair, there were more black bristles, like what covered the rest of her body, that stood out a little longer.

"The Son of Poseidon," she cooed. Birds coo. Babies coo. Spiders never should. "Help me destroy this daughter of Athena, and once I have drunk her innards, I will let you go free."

"Uh huh," I said. I was still trying to pass and now I was also trying not to lose my lunch. "That sounds nice and all, but I'm gonna have to say no." I was halfway there. Arachne was now directly in front of me. She didn't take rejection well; instead she snarled and charged, lightning fast.

I was quicker. Riptide leapt in front of me and slashed at her head. This time she retreated, howling in pain, her green blood streaming from the cut curving down her face.

Annabeth was beside me in the next instant. She grabbed my arm and pulled me after her in a wide circle until we were both in her corner. We stood there, and I was able to get my first good look at her.

She was gripping her knife and looking a little green, but still pretty good for someone whose organs were wanted in a spider's smoothie. She was watching Arachne's every move, her grey eyes searching for an opening. She had a few cuts and scrapes, but it looked like she had been able to avoid the worst of the assaults. A raised red welt was on her arm, under her elbow.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, pointing to the lump. Annabeth's gaze left the giant spider, and moved down to her arm.

"It's a spider bite," she said. "There was this little green one and…" she broke off with a shudder.

The ground around us shook, and Annabeth shoved me into the wall behind her. I looked up to see Arachne making a charge. Her front two legs reached forward, trying to hook one of ours.

Annabeth leapt forward. Her knife flashed as she swung it up, around, and brought it down on a joint of the closest leg with a loud _clang._ Arachne gave another screaming hiss of pain and retreated.

"I hate her!" Annabeth screeched, turning back around. She was rubbing her bitten arm, like she could still feel that spider crawling on her. "She wears my _mother's _face with those legs and those teeth, and she won't-leave-me-alone!"

"Has she been chasing you long?" I asked.

"Ever since Queens," she said grimly, her eyes back on Arachne. The spider had moved back to the far corner and was climbing back up the side of the building. I watched the glass in the windows rattle with her every step. "I finally decided to just face her, to make sure she couldn't hurt any of the others, and like an idiot," she said disgustedly, "I followed her here." She waved her arm around and above us.

I figured that the others she meant were her half-siblings, the other children of Athena. Arachne held a grudge against Athena, and Annabeth had once told me that all spiders like to target Athena's children in revenge.

The giant spider was resting high above our heads, still facing away. I guess she wasn't thinking about us just trying to run away just then, but I was. She was at least thirty feet up, leaving the ground clear to the exit. "What if we made a run for it, right now?" I asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "You saw how far she could jump. She would be on us before we even got close."

"We'll split up then," I said. "She can't go after us both. In the time it takes for her to decide, we can be clear."

"She's too fast," Annabeth countered. "She'd still get to us."

I let out my breath in a huff. "How is she too fast?" I argued. "She's at least thirty feet in the air. Unless she's got a pair of wings somewhere I haven't seen – which would be weird, because she's a _giant spider _– we would stand a chance."

Annabeth gave me a weird look, then put her hands on either side of my face. She put her head very close to mine, tilted it at an angle, and said, "That's how."

From my new position, if I squinted and looked really closely, I could see the sun reflecting off a thin string in the middle of the air. It connected to the wall near my shoulder, and stretched over our heads. I looked again, and could see several other strings crossing it at different angles.

They formed a net, hovering above us that extended up and out to where Arachne rested on the far building. I could see it rising and falling as it continued farther out between two buildings. From what I could see, it was big, wrapping around and over buildings and skyscrapers and hovering high above the streets of at least a couple of city blocks, probably more. It was so hard to see, I reached out to try to touch the string fixed to the wall above my shoulder just to make sure it was real.

Annabeth stopped me. "Don't," she said. "It's the web of Arachne. Its strands are so thin it's practically invisible, but they're stronger than steel. And some of them will wrap around anything that touches them to trap it until she can get there."

Don't touch, got it.

"I managed to cut a part of it down," she continued, "but it wasn't easy." I could see a hole now in the web above us, a few feet long. That part hung around our corner like an invisible, impenetrable curtain. Then Annabeth showed me her knife. The usually razor sharp edge of the celestial bronze blade was completely blunt. Only the point looked like it could still do damage. I had seen sharper spoons.

Now I understood. Arachne didn't need wings. Crawling on her web, she could be anywhere we ran in seconds. The only place we were remotely safe was this small corner, where the web surrounded and protected us.

"We're going to need help," I said. I wished I had told Rachel to get Nico and Tyson while she was at my house. I looked over at Annabeth. "Where's your hat?"

Annabeth had a Yankee's ball cap that would turn her invisible. It was a gift from her mother and really useful in battle situations. I knew, because not only had I seen Annabeth use it in countless battles, I had used it a couple of times myself.

She pointed her finger up in the air. I followed its direction until I saw her blue ball cap, sitting on thin air about half way in between Arachne and us. It must have been on part of the web, but now that I had looked away I couldn't see the strands anymore, so the hat just looked like it was floating in midair instead.

"How-?" I started to ask, but the ground started to vibrate as Arachne moved back down the side of the building. One of her legs got too close to a window, and the tremors broke it. We watched the glass shards fall until they crashed on the ground.

Arachne stood on top of them at the base of the wall. "Heroes," she crooned in her horrible voice, "come out. There is no escape, give up. You cannot win. I cannot be hurt."

There was an orange spider, hairy and about the size of my palm, crawling on her face. It was running over the cut I had made with Riptide, using its webbing to precisely stitch it up. There was webbing already wrapped around the lower joint of the leg Annabeth had hit.

Annabeth made a noise of disgust. I felt the same. As we watched, the orange spider finished its last few stitches at the top of the cut, and then crawled over to Arachne's nose, up between her eyes, and disappeared over the top of her head. The web that had been left over the wounds seemed to melt into her skin, leaving it completely healed.

"My children love me," Arachne said fondly. She smiled again. "They will not see their mother injured. Come out now, and I promise I shall be quick."

I might as well have not wounded her at all, for all the good it did. We needed a plan. "Got any ideas?" I asked Annabeth.

She was looking a little green again - I don't think that orange spider did her any favors - but she nodded. "I'll need my hat."

We were thinking the same thing. Probably. "Could you climb up and get to it?"

She studied the invisible web for a long moment, and then very deliberately said, "Yes." She braced her hand against my shoulder. "Give me a boost so I can reach the web, then - "

I finished for her. "I'll distract Mommy dearest while you climb." I bent and cupped my hands. Annabeth stepped on them, and gripped my shoulder tighter as I lifted her up. She stretched her other arm high over her head and caught hold of something I couldn't see, grasped it with her other hand too, and then pulled herself up into thin air. She moved slowly over the web, carefully choosing where to put her hands and feet. I hoped she was able to avoid the threads that would wrap around you. Annabeth tied up was not something we needed right now.

I looked away from her, grabbed Riptide, slung it over my shoulder, and stepped out of the corner. Arachne hadn't tried to stop Annabeth yet, and I wanted to keep it that way.

"Hey," I yelled at the giant spider, as I took a few steps forward. "Do you know about the Itsy Bitsy Spider? What happens to you when it rains?"

I think I had her attention, though it was hard to tell with those eyes. I circled to the left and she turned her head to follow me. Good. "Do you get – what is it – washed out? What does that even mean?"

Okay, so it wasn't my best insult, but it seemed to be doing the trick. I had gotten close to her left side by now, and her answer was to try to crush me under one of her legs. I somersaulted under it, and then rolled away from the next one that tried to do the same thing.

She lunged toward me with her pincers snapping, but I raised Riptide and took a swipe at her neck. She scuttled back a few steps, and then moved over to climb back up her wall. I got back on my feet.

Annabeth had climbed so that she was poised in mid air twenty feet above my head. I watched as she plotted her next move, and then held my breath as she lunged for and caught another thread.

I turned back to the far wall. "You know, that's a cool trick, climbing the wall like that. Know who else can do that? Spider-Man."

Arachne snarled, completely focused on me. "I HATE the Spider-Man! The very idea is absurd! No human could do anything my precious children can!"

I was ready for what she did next: the courtyard shook as she leapt at me again, and I ran as fast as I could to the right. Trapped underneath her was exactly the last place I wanted to be. The ground disappeared from under me as the giant spider just missed. I fell hard on my shoulder with an "_Oof."_

"Die, demigod!" Arachne hissed. Something moved above me. I spun onto my back and struck out wildly with my sword. It crashed against something so hard I felt the impact vibrate back down to my injured shoulder.

From up above my head, I heard Annabeth shout, "You can't just hit her anywhere, Percy! You've got to get her underneath, or in a joint, where her skeleton is vulnerable!"

I knew that. "I know that!" I yelled in her direction.

We shouldn't have yelled.

At the sound of our voices, Arachne's head snapped up and turned until she saw Annabeth. She made a bunch of furious snapping sounds that I figured were spider speak for "Get off my precious web, you no-good half-blood." Her front two legs reached up through the web to pull Annabeth down.

Annabeth shrieked as one of the legs curled above her. She quickly climbed away, then had to scuttle to a different part of the web to avoid the other leg, which was feeling its way towards her. For a moment, one of her wrists looked like it had been caught in the threads before she managed to cut and pull it free. She was still a few feet away from her hat, not close enough to reach it. As the first leg started to come down on her, she gave it a vicious kick and one of her hands lost its grip on the web.

I rolled between two of Arachne's back legs and jumped to my feet. With Riptide held high above me in both hands, I struck at her tiny waist. My sword opened up a wound in her underbelly a couple of inches deep. Arachne's vivid, green blood poured out of the wound and flowed onto the front of my shirt. She gave a roar of pain and brought her legs down. The ground shook and I fought to keep my balance.

A black spider, larger than the orange one, crawled over and began to spin a web across the wound. Now that I looked closely I could see dozens of large spiders of all different colors and sizes crawling over Arachne's body, or clinging to her underbelly.

While I was staring at all the spiders - man, there must have been dozens of them - something hit me from behind and knocked the wind out of me. I stumbled forward only to be knocked again by one of Arachne's side legs. I fell a couple more times, only to be hit back again by one of the massive spider's legs. When she got sick of playing Percy the Pinball, one of her front legs pulled me out from under her and slammed me against a wall.


	3. I Get Hooked, But Not on Phonics

AN: Thank you to xXAwesomeSauce, waterblossemangel13, (anonymous), Frenzi99, lovetoread1998, Musafreen, and Xover Queen for taking the time to review and tell me what you did and did not like. It was awesome to hear from you guys. And for those who asked when Paul would end up mixed up in Percy's mishap...later, it will happen later.

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I laid there, trying to remember what breathing felt like, as Arachne leaned over me. She gave me a smile that was really gruesome because it was full of pointy teeth and wrapped around by her pincers. I figured that my lungs were just going to start working again just about the time she made them stop - permanently - when I heard, "Hey!"

Both Arachne and I looked toward the sound. High above our heads, Annabeth stretched out her hand and just managed to grab her hat. Then she turned and dropped through the web and fell, twisting herself in midair. She landed hard on Arachne's back and drove her knife into it with all the force of her fall.

The shrieking roar Arachne let out vibrated through my head and pierced my ears. Already, her body was rippling with a handful of spiders coming from all directions to heal her. The upper part of her body arched up, and Annabeth was thrown off. She hit the ground as a ball and rolled for a few feet before coming up in a crouch. Then, still grasping her knife, she pulled on her Yankees cap, and vanished.

Arachne had just seemed to remember that Annabeth was still there, and that she still hated her. She was ignoring me completely now and trying to find Annabeth's position. She was moving a little more slowly until the spiders finished patching her up, and was trying to move quietly, so that she could hear Annabeth, but that isn't all that easy when you have eight legs and weigh at least a ton.

I got a tighter grip on Riptide, got to my feet, and used Arachne's distraction to skewer her through one of her lower joints. She hissed and turned back around to face me. I dropped to a crouch as one of her long legs whipped through the air where my head had been. The breeze from her move lifted my hair on end.

She had taken a couple steps closer to try to finish me off, when a gash appeared on her underbelly. It was thin, and wasn't very deep, but it was long, like an invisible person had taken the sharp point of a knife and ran right under her. Arachne screamed in fury while a thin brown spider with long legs started to patch it up. She restarted her search for Annabeth, and I started looking for another opening.

We fought this way for a while. I would take Riptide and cut her on a leg, or underneath, and when she was about to run me through with one of her massive legs, suddenly a gash would appear on Arachne's far side, and she would start hunting for Annabeth again. I'd take that opportunity to stick my sword as far as I could into her underbelly, and get out while the spider was distracted and Annabeth hit her again.

It worked pretty well. When we weren't about to strangle each other, Annabeth and I made good team. She was able to distract Arachne before I was a dead man, and I managed to stay out of her way, even though she was invisible. It wasn't that hard; we had been in so many battles together, we pretty much knew what the other was going to do. It was something that came with being at camp for so long. You learned people's eye color, their favorite foods, the way they laughed, and their favorite moves for taking down fifty foot monsters.

All the smaller spiders on Arachne were going crazy, trying to patch up all the wounds at once. They didn't take long to heal, but we kept hitting her again and again and again. Finally, she seemed to have run out of spiders, and the small gash Annabeth had opened up near her neck stayed opened and unhealed.

Arachne had started to retreat. Step by step she was backing up closer to the brick building she had climbed on earlier. Three of her legs were limping now, and there was a gravelly sound every time she breathed. I took a few steps forward. I couldn't let her reach that building. If she climbed that wall, she would heal again, and we would be back to square one. So as Arachne turned her massive body to make a run for it, I ran and leaped forward to block her path.

Unfortunately, Annabeth had the same idea.

We hit hard in midair, and fell in a heap on the ground. The collision hadn't exactly helped my injured shoulder, and judging from the scrambling sounds a little bit to my left, Annabeth wasn't on her feet yet either. I managed to get up to my knees, when there was a blur of movement to my right, a flash of pain, and I was suddenly hoisted up into the air.

I screamed. Arachne's mandible had pierced my right side and hooked under a rib. I was dangling from that now, twenty feet in the air. Her horrible, grinning face was just inches from me. My sword was still in my hand, but I couldn't stand to move it enough to swing it at her. "Foolish boy," she said. It must have been hard for her to talk with her mouth that full. "Now, you are mine!" I screamed and yelled again as her every little movement shook me and tore the hole in my side a little wider. It hurt. A lot.

Arachne shook me a little harder, and I think I blacked out for a moment, because the next thing I knew I was on the ground. This hard landing had hurt more than all the others combined. My right side was warm and wet, I could hear my heart pounding, and Riptide was no longer in my hand. Arachne's hairy pincers were dripping with a combination of my blood and some clear liquid – do spiders have spit? She grinned down at me.

I gave a grunt and tried to push myself upright. My arms were made of concrete, and my head was suddenly so heavy I ended up just flopping over on my side. Out of habit, I forced my hand into my jean pocket, but it was still empty. My sword was still somewhere I couldn't see. That little movement took every ounce of energy I had, and that was terrifying. It was suddenly a battle just to breathe; it felt like a beached hippocampus was sitting on my chest. Even the pulse pounding in my ears felt like it was slower than before.

"It works quickly, doesn't it demigod?" I managed to role my eyes far enough to see Arachne looming over me. "My poison is strong, but it will not kill you, oh no. It will keep you alive until I can enjoy my meal at my leisure."

That explained it. Her venom was paralyzing me, so she could kill and eat me later. That was why my bleeding has slowed, and why I could barely move or breathe. Desperately, I thought about the sand dollar hanging around my neck. Maybe this was why my dad had given it to me yesterday, so that it could save my life today. He had made sure that I had it, just in the nick of time. In vain, I tried to reach it.

"Nuh fuh," I managed to get out as Arachne let loose another hissing laugh. I was scared out of my mind that this was how I was going to die.

"Now for you will pay for your impudence!" One of Arachne's legs rolled me onto my back, then pressed hard against my chest. I wanted to tell her that if she was going to kill me, at least make it over a word I understood, but she was poised to squash me like…well, like a bug.

I tried to focus all my strength into a fierce karate kick. My foot moved maybe an inch. She pressed a little bit harder, I heard something in my chest crack, then raised her leg for a crushing blow. I had just enough time to yell something, and then get mad because my immortal last words were going to be, "Unn buth," before her leg was racing back down to hit me one final time. I couldn't even shut my eyes.

Then she stopped, her leg hovering above me. Her head whipped around to look behind her. Everything was still for a moment, and then I heard a small noise. Something small was falling on the opposite side of the yard. We waited a bit, and the noise came again. I think it was coming from near the corner where Annabeth and I had hid earlier. Small little stones were scraping against the wall while they were falling, like they were being knocked loose by an invisible someone trying to climb the tall wall.

Arachne glared at the corner. If she could have narrowed her eyes, I think she would have. "Daughter of Athena," she hissed, "you truly take after your cowardly mother. Sacrificing this boy will not give you an escape."

She turned her entire body toward the corner now. "For you I will not even take away the pain. I shall savor your screams." Then she set off, her every step bringing my body up off of the ground a little bit. If I could have felt anything, I bet it would have really hurt.

Arachne reached the corner in a few steps and started feeling the walls for any sign of Annabeth. After a moment, I felt my left arm rise up over my head. My body slid a few inches as something pulled on it.

"Come on, come on," I heard Annabeth mutter. She was dragging me to the exit. Arachne kept her searching, and we kept moving. It was slow going, but we were getting closer.

As my right foot moved, it knocked against something near me on the ground. Riptide made a set of clinking sounds as it was drug along with me for a short while. It's hilt then fell to the ground with a final '_thunk_.' Arachne froze, and half turned her head in our direction, listening hard. We stopped moving. Annabeth's nails were digging into my arm, and I couldn't even hear her breathing above me anymore. I, of course, was perfectly still.

Then my arm fell and I heard more stones hit the far corner, a little further away from where Arachne had been searching the wall. There was a pause, and then a few more fell. The spider turned back and restarted her careful search. My arm was picked back up and we continued moving.

"Be quiet! I don't want to throw anymore, or she's going to figure it out. Ugh, you're useless!" Annabeth softly hissed, sounding a bit like Arachne herself.

I rolled my eyes to the top of my head, but of course didn't see anything. I wanted to tell her she was being a little unfair. After all, Arachne wasn't _my_ mother's crazy archnemesis. She wasn't after revenge on me. I wasn't the one who had decided to challenge her and got myself caught in a giant trap. I could have walked home with Rachel and been perfectly happy if she hadn't started screaming. I was the one who had come to help _her_.

I would have told her that too, if it wouldn't have ended up sounding like a bunch of grunts and groans she wouldn't have understood, anyway. Besides, I was under strict orders from her to be quiet. Then there was a sharp jerk on my arm as Annabeth lost her grip. I heard her give a scream and then she was falling into me and we both went rolling. When we stopped I was facing up, and Annabeth was a few feet away from me. Her Yankees cap had been knocked from her head, and I could see that she didn't have her knife.

High above us, Arachne dangled upside down from her web. I watched as she lowered herself on a thin string and landed on the ground. A part of the wall crumbled as she loomed over us.

"Do you really think me that stupid?" she asked.

_Do you really want us to answer that?_ I thought.

Annabeth had gotten to her knees. Arachne looked over at her and smiled. Her smiles weren't getting any better looking. "You shall watch him die." Then she bared all of her pointed teeth and lunged forward to rip my throat out.

In a flash, Annabeth had thrown herself over me. Arachne pulled her head back a few inches at this new change. "What's this?" she asked, her face a few inches from mine. Her breath was like raw meat. Raw meat, sitting in the sun, in the Sahara. For a week.

Annabeth said something, but it was muffled by my t-shirt. She turned over and faced the giant spider above us, cringing away from her. "Don't hurt him," she repeated.

She reached her hand behind her and grabbed onto my right arm. Arachne tilted her head. "You are not one to make demands of me, half-blood."

"Please," Annabeth said. "If you just let him go, I'll...I'll surrender. You can kill me, just like you wanted to."

What was she doing? Behind her, her hand had moved down my arm to my wrist. She couldn't just give herself up now.

"The boy is nearly dead, and you give up your life for his? There is no wisdom in this." Arachne was right, I was nearly dead. I could feel it how close I was. And Arachne was just going to kill us both if Annabeth kept this up, so her idea didn't seem to be all that wise to me either. "Perhaps I was wrong. Clearly you are no daughter of Athena."

" I am." Annabeth's hand slipped into my pocket. Her fingers curled around my hand. "But this is important."

Arachne seemed to consider. "Very well, I will spare the boy. If," here she gave a grin that was stained with my blood, "you denounce your mother."

Annabeth's hand tightened around mine. "My mom?"

"Die with hatred of your mother on your lips and I will spare the Son of Poseidon." Arachne said. "Or watch him die before you, the choice is yours." Well now it really didn't matter if I died here. Even if Arachne didn't succeed in killing me, Athena would be sure to finish the job when she heard about this.

"I...I..." Annabeth was at a loss for words. That was the second time today she had weirded me out. "I don't..."

Arachne was leaning far over us now, enjoying her new game. "Choose! Choose! You have long been out of time. Denounce your mother and meet your death!" Something slimy dripped from her pincer onto my shirt.

Annabeth didn't give an answer. She just stared up at the spider like she was trying hard to decide and kept a hold of my hand. Her finger was tapping my palm, like she was impatient for something. I hated to break it to her, but I wasn't going to be able to do anything to help at the moment.

Then in the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of something gold. The next instant, Riptide reappeared in my pocket. In one fluid move, Annabeth had grabbed the pen, pulled it out, uncapped it, and swung it at Arachne, cutting off her head. "Never," she growled.

Arachne's headless body stood for a second longer before disintegrating into gold dust, leaving dozens of spiders hovering in midair before falling to the ground. A group of them started off in the direction that her head had rolled, like they were going to fix her up. _Yeah_, I thought, _good luck with that, guys_.

Annabeth took a deep breath, got up from the ground, and went to retrieve her knife and hat. We had both been drenched in Arachne's blood when she had chopped her head off, so her shoes made a sort of sloshing sound as she walked. At least she had managed to keep it off most of her face, I hadn't been so lucky. If was a good thing I had closed my mouth before the venom had kicked in or...yeah, that would have been gross.

Something was pulling at my t-shirt. It pulled a little more, and then I felt one small hairy leg, then another under the fabric against the skin of my side. Something else bit my chest. I looked to see a large brown spider there that looked like it was from somewhere a lot more exotic than New York. It was crawling from one patch of Arachne's blood to the next, like a bloodhound sniffing a scent.

The spiders were swarming me. The one under my shirt was crawling higher, there was something else moving near my hair, and I couldn't move to stop them or get away. I had never been afraid of spiders before, but I could start to understand what Cabin Six's big problem with them was.

I heard running footsteps and Annabeth was back. She looked more than a little worried as she swung her foot at my side and it landed with a crunch. If I could have moved, I would have winced. She swung my sword like a baseball bat and sent the tarantula on my chest flying towards a far corner. Then she gave a little scream and shook off something that had started to climb her shoe.

She gave a look around and then let out a string of curses in Ancient Greek. Then she got behind me and locked her arms under my armpits and started to drag me backwards. From the look I had seen on her face, I was kind of glad I wasn't seeing what she had seen. "We've got to get out of here."

There was no need to be quiet or cautious now. Soon we were at the entrance, and then I was being drug back through the alleyway. Annabeth was breathing hard from trying to move so quickly while dragging my dead weight. She was muttering something I think was _get out, get out, get_ _out_. Her curls would whip across my face every time she would look behind her to see where we were going, then back again to see where the spiders were.

The spiders were following us. Sometimes one or two would stop to check on a mark of blood one of us had left behind. A couple of others had climbed up the alley walls around us. It looked like there were a lot more of them now than when we had been fighting Arachne. We were still ahead of them, but it couldn't last forever. The street was still too far away, and even that probably wouldn't stop them. I didn't even want to think about what all this dragging was doing to the hole in my side.

We rounded a corner and the heel of my tennis shoe caught on the wall. Annabeth gave a hard jerk and it came off my foot. Three spiders got in a fight over it as we kept moving. That was when I noticed we weren't going down the same alley I had earlier. I didn't know what route Annabeth had taken to get to that courtyard, but we were now going away from the street.

We moved a few more feet before Annabeth tripped and we fell back. The spiders were still at the corner. They didn't seem to know what to do with my shoe. We sat there for a minute, sprawled on the ground and watched my shoe twitch and move back and forth a couple of feet while a hoard of spiders tried to kill it. This was the time when we would normally jump apart because we had ended up a little too close together, but there was nothing I could do about it and Annabeth was busy trying to get her breath back, so we were like that for a little while, with my nose pressed uncomfortably into her elbow.

Finally, Annabeth got to her feet behind me. She laid me back on the ground and walked towards the wall. She stared at it for a second, then squinted up at the sky above, tilting her head in different directions. When she had seen enough, she nodded and said, "The web isn't here. This is as good as any other place," then she raised an arm. "Black-" she tried to yell, but had to catch her breath again. She breathed deeply and tried again. "Blackjack!"

* * *

AN: So that's part 3. About halfway done now!


	4. I Give My Horse a National Monument

AN: Alright, so this is part four! Thank you to everyone who has favorited or signed up for the alerts on this story, I can't believe I didn't say this in the earlier parts. It's great to know who enjoys the story. And thank you to Xover Queen, AnimalBuddy32, xXPercidiaJacksonXx, k, Frenzi 99, and Bobeara for taking the time to review the last part!

Xover Queen, in answer to your question: Paul finding out about demigods is something that happens in this story, yes. Whether it's the main focus is something that could be argued. Hopefully, a little bit of this next part will set your mind at ease.

* * *

A minute later, a black pegasus appeared in the sky and landed beside us.

_Yo, boss! We found you! _Blackjack let out a whinny and did horsey double-take. _Whoa, you don't look so good.  
_  
_Yeah, no kidding,_ I thought. _You've been here the whole time?_

He seemed a little sorry. _I've been keeping my distance_, he said. _Your lady said she'd call when she needed me. Arachne's one scary lady! Nothing with wings wants to get close to her web. There wasn't much else I could do._

_It's fine_, I thought, _not_ _your fault, buddy. You shouldn't even be here. What are you guys-_

There was a bang down the alley as my shoe walked into a trashcan lid. "Okay," Annabeth interrupted. "Come on boys, you can catch up later. Escape now." I don't know how, because Blackjack wasn't much help, but somehow the two of them managed to get me lying on my stomach across his back.

Annabeth circled around to make sure I wasn't going to do anything inconvenient in my new position, like slide off and plummet to my death. As she passed in front of Blackjack, he nudged her shoulder. _Sugar cubes?_ he asked.

She seemed to know what he meant, because she pushed his head away and said, "Later."

_She said that earlier_, he complained as she got on behind me. _Now's later_. _I'm not going anywhere until she pays up._

My shoe hit the trash can lid again. The spiders were going to get bored with it soon, if they hadn't already, and then they would be back after us. Behind me, Annabeth fidgeted, trying to get settled before takeoff.

_Look dude,_ I thought desperately, _in the seventh grade I made a model of the Washington Monument out of sugar cubes. Hundreds and hundreds of them. It only got a C-, but I'll give it to you if you just get us out of here now.  
_  
His ears turned back toward us. _The whole Washington Monument_? he asked. _Of sugar_?

_Yes!_ I thought, _And it's all yours, if we leave now_.

Annabeth twisted one hand in my t-shirt and grabbed onto Blackjack's mane with the other. She looked over her shoulder and said, "Okay, we need to leave. NOW."

_I'm holding you to that one, boss._ Then with one sweep of his wings we were airborne.

I would consider myself somewhat of an expert at flying pegasi. It's fun, and because I can talk with them, I'm pretty good at it. However, flung over the back of one like a sack of flour with my arms and legs dangling was a completely new experience. It wasn't very comfortable, in fact it sort of hurt, and alright, it was probably the stupidest I had ever looked riding a Pegasus, too. But I was so glad to be out of that alleyway and away from those spiders I really didn't care.

My head, at least had something to rest on. If by rest, you meant hit with every beat of Blackjack's wings. There was a canvas bookbag that had been tied around his neck, just underneath where I was dangling. _A bag?_ I thought. _What's next, Blackjack, a saddle? Should I get you some reins?_

_It's not mine._ Blackjack said, sounding a little offended. _Your lady left it with me when she went after her hat._

_Stop calling her that. Her name's Annabeth. _I thought. My head hit the bag again. _What's in it?_

Blackjack shook his head. _Wouldn't know, boss. All I know is she needed a ride to New York. _

"Blackjack?" Annabeth said over my shoulder. She had quit looking back, so I was hoping the spiders were long gone. "Can you take us to Percy's apartment? We might be able to make it there."

Why wouldn't we make it? Blackjack gave her a nod. He turned in the direction of my building and continued. _Anyway, we were going to see you, so I figured it would be all right._

_Really. _I was suspicious. _And you were willing to come all this way. Just to see me. _My head hit the bag again.

_Well, that and the sugar cubes she promised me when we got there. _Could a horse sound sheepish? _She said you'd have some for me too. Lots and lots of sugar cubes._

_Uh huh. I thought so. _Maybe I was a little mad at them. Blackjack wasn't exactly my pet or anything, like my hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary, but he was still sort of _my _Pegasus. I liked knowing that when I wasn't with him, he was safe at camp and really didn't like the idea of anyone, including Annabeth, taking him out for joyrides.

Blackjack seemed to sense my mood. _Sorry, boss. _

_It's all right, man. Just get us back to my place. _I was starting to feel something on my right side again, which might have been good if that something wasn't a lot like agony.

The nice thing about traveling through New York on a Pegasus is that there really isn't a lot of traffic. As long as you avoid the occasional newscopter, you make really good time. So it wasn't long before we were by my building, which was good because by then I could feel everything from every cut and bruise on my body, and let me tell you, I was in a lot of pain.

A minute later, after some careful maneuvering, Annabeth stood on the fire escape by my window while I lay at her feet. She tried to open it, then pounded on it when it was locked. I told Blackjack to go ahead and wait on the roof. No one would bother him there.

_Don't forget about the monument, _he said as he started back up.

_I won't, sheesh! Promise._

Annabeth pounded on the window again, just as Nico opened it. He had to jerk his head back to avoid her fist. I guess a giant horse flying outside of your window was something not even a child of Hades could sleep through. He took a look at Annabeth, and then at me. "What the heck?"

"Give me a hand with him." Annabeth had to have been surprised by Nico appearing at my window, but she didn't let it show.

Nico crawled out the window and picked up my legs as Annabeth got my arms. "What did you _do_ to him?"

"It wasn't me!" Annabeth snapped. "Watch it!" They managed to hit my head against the window sill as they laid me on my bedroom floor. Ow, ow_, _ow, OW.

That's when the door opened, and I could just see Tyson's feet in the doorway. I could tell the three of us didn't exactly make a pretty picture, because he promptly burst into tears. Not good.

"It's all right!" Annabeth tried to calm him while closing the window. "Tyson, it's okay."

"Tyson?" that would be my mom. "Tyson, what's wrong?" She reached my doorway and stood beside him. Rachel was with her. "_Percy!_"

I really hated that my mom's voice could sound like that, like everything good and happy had just been taken away from her. I wanted to try to move, to let her know that I was all right, but all I could do was lie there and feel guilty that I was worrying her like this.

Annabeth moved toward them. She quickly said a couple of words to my mom I didn't catch. Mom frowned, but nodded and set off back down the hall.

"He was just fine a little while ago." Rachel said, looking down at me. A wrinkle had appeared in between her eyes. "He said he would be all right."

Annabeth ignored her as she stood in front of Tyson. She put her hands on his face and made him look at her. "Tyson! We need your help. Can you carry Percy into the bathroom? It's important, and he needs to get in there quickly." She took his hand and led him over to where I was.

"He's dead!" Tyson sobbed, big fat tears rolling down his face and dripping off his chin.

"No, he isn't," said Nico, from where he was kneeling beside me. He said it with such certainty that no one questioned him. Just then, I was really glad that he was there. I had been a little worried about ending up buried alive, or something stupid like that, but I knew that with Nico around, that wasn't going happen.

"He was poisoned by the venom of Arachne." Annabeth said grimly as she helped Tyson gather me up. She picked up my dangling arm and crossed it over my chest.

Nico walked ahead of us out the door and into the hall, "Well then, he's not dead _yet_."

Suddenly, I wasn't so glad to have Nico around.

Rachel spoke up. "What can I do?"

Annabeth's mouth became a hard line. I thought she was going to say something nasty for a second, but then she pointed where Nico had left and said, "You could start some water in the tub."

Rachel nodded, and started out the door. Then she paused and turned back around. "Hot or cold?"

"Doesn't matter!" Annabeth snapped. "Go!"

Tyson slowly got to his feet. For a Cyclops, I wasn't too heavy to carry, but he was being very cautious about where he held me to avoid aggravating my injuries. Carefully, he started forward and out my bedroom door.

In Tyson's arms, the trip was pretty smooth. I wasn't knocked into any walls or doorframes, and nothing hurt much worse than it had before, although that wasn't saying much. I could feel that the wound on my side had started to bleed again. All together, we made a strange little parade going down the hall in my apartment.

When we got to the bathroom, Tyson walked straight over and lowered me into the tub without being told. It was about half filled with water, and I think Rachel had tried to make it warm, but it hadn't had the time to heat up.

It felt awesome to be in the water. It had quickly turned pink as it started to mix with the blood from my clothes, but wherever the bathwater touched on my lower body, all the pain was taken away, just like the numbing effect of the poison was working again, only about a thousand times better.

By my feet, Rachel reached over and turned on the shower head. The water rained down on my head and chest, dulling the ache in my shoulder, soothing the cuts on my arms and numbing my side. Everything felt better in the water.

Annabeth stood by the edge of the tub and emptied a small bottle of golden liquid from her pocket into the water near my side. The nectar made the water feel bubbly there, like my mom's bath salts. As bizarre as the whole situation was, it felt pretty awesome.

"This is your plan?" Nico didn't sound all that impressed.

"This is my plan." Annabeth answered watching the water carefully.

He screwed up his nose. "This is it?"

"Not quite."

"Well good," Nico said. "Because he wasn't stung by a bee, you know. It's going to take more than a nice, warm bubble bath to heal him."

Annabeth turned around. "Do you have a better idea?" she huffed.

"No."

"Then shut up." She turned back around. Behind her back, Nico made a face.

"Sally?" We heard Paul call down the hall. Rachel turned off the tap. Tyson's hand pushed my head underwater and out of sight. One nice thing about being the Son of Poseidon? I can hear and see underwater as well as breathe. I could just see Paul walk past the doorway from the corner of my eye. "Have you kids-" He stopped and took us in. "What's going on?"

Paul had been a high school teacher for too long not to know that something was up. He started to walk in, caught sight of me in the tub, and his face went from curious to concerned. "Hey his head is underwater, he can't-"

Rachel jumped in front of his path and stopped him in the doorway. "You see, Mr. Blofis…" she started, buying time and sounding like she had a perfectly good explanation. She looked around at the room. Then she looked at the others for help. "Um, it's just that…"

Thankfully, my mom showed up then. "Paul!" she said. She was holding a canister and shifting it between her hands.

Paul was trying to get around Rachel but she was still blocking the way. "Sally, what's going on?" He turned back to the tub. "Tyson, just pull Percy's head up, please. He's been holding his breath for way too long."

My mom handed the canister to Annabeth. Then she grabbed Paul by the arm. "Paul, it's alright. Just leave them alone, let them work." She glanced over at me, and I could see that she was more worried than she sounded. "It will be fine." Then she led him out of the room.

"Thanks, Mrs. Jackson," Annabeth said and closed the door before returning to the edge of the tub. She opened the canister and poured something into her hand, then squinted at the water in the tub and poured a little more.

"What's that?" Nico asked.

Annabeth held her hand over me. "The rest of the plan," she said. Then she let what she was holding fall into the tub.

The salt hit the water and sent a shock through me. Annabeth had poured just enough in to make the bath become just as good as seawater. My every nerve was on high alert and they were sending signals to my brain like crazy. The water stung in my scratches and scrapes like… salt in an open wound. My eyes smarted, and my side felt like it had been set on fire. I could feel my skin stretching as it tried to cover all the places it had been broken. But even with all that, I still felt better. I could even think more clearly.

I guess it wasn't as dramatic for the others watching me. I still wasn't moving, and I think they had been hoping I was going to jump out of the tub perfectly fine, or at least see something different. Instead nothing had really changed, on the outside at least. I mean, they couldn't_ see_ me healing.

Tyson started to cry again. Some of his tears dropped down into the water above my face. Annabeth reached over and wrapped an arm around him. I heard her ask him if he would go watch at my window. He opened the door so hard it came part way off its hinges and lumbered out, sobbing all the way.

The other three sat in silence for a moment, then Rachel softly asked, "Now what do we do?"

Annabeth ignored her again. She was glaring down at me, like it was my fault her plan hadn't worked yet.

Nico had been sitting against a wall on the bathroom floor, kicking a cabinet door. "So, now what?" he repeated.

Annabeth watched me not moving in the water for another moment, then sat down on the side of the tub. "I don't know," she finally admitted. She rested her forehead on her hands. "Mom?..."

There was a roaring sound as my heart started beating faster. No one reacted to it, and I realized it was the sound of my blood rushing in my ears. It meant I was still healing, which was good, but I also couldn't hear what it was they were planning to do with me, which could be bad.

Nico was saying something. "...deal with my dad. Maybe there's still a way."

"He likes squeak toys." Annabeth sounded like her mind was million miles away. "Take a couple with you."

"Hang on a second," that was Rachel. "You can do that? Just go to the land of the dead. It's that easy, even without the Labyrinth?"

It was like Annabeth suddenly snapped out of whatever trance she had been in. She lifted her head and said "No, she's right, you can't go."

Nico scowled at her. "You're out of ideas. This didn't work. We have to try something, fast, or else Percy is dead!"

"You can't fly. How long do you think it will take you to get to Los Angeles?" Annabeth said matter-of-factly. "You'd never make it in time."

"You don't know that, there's a lot you don't know-"

"I know one of the few people less likely to help Percy than my mom, is your dad." Annabeth continued on. "He hates him. Percy being dead would be something he could take off of his to-do list. He might even send Arachne a gift."

That was true. Well, he wouldn't have to send it far, seeing as Arachne was dead and waiting somewhere near Tartarus to be reborn. Nico looked away. "He doesn't want him dead," he said. "That would create a whole new set of problems. And he definitely wouldn't want him to die a hero's death, because he then he would just go to Elysium."

"He sounds like a real nice guy, your dad." Rachel commented. "How petty is it to not even let someone have a happy death?"

Nico glared. "Like you're one to talk, Rachel _Dare,_" he countered.

Rachel turned a little pink and studied the sink.

"Well, it doesn't matter, anyway," Annabeth continued. "If you left right now, you won't even make it two steps out of this apartment."

They turned back to her. Nico narrowed his eyes. "Why not?"

Annabeth sighed. "Because by now every spider in Manhattan has made its way here to kill us."

* * *

AN: Yes, another cliffhanger. I'm sorry, they just seem like such good places to break up the different parts. The next part will be out soon, so hopefully you won't have long to wait. Let me know what you thought!


	5. The Supreme Lord of the Bathroom Returns

AN: Thank you to those who favorited the story or signed up for the alert! And thank you to speedyteeny, Xover Queen, xXPercidiaJacksonXx, CoolWater123, xMidnightOwlx, littlefrog111, AnimalBuddy32, kittykatkitkat, glitterthorn, Frenzi99, and Son of Aether for taking the time to review.

Those of you who feel like maybe the summary lied to you, here you go. I hope you don't feel cheated.

And Xover Queen, I'm going to really quickly answer your questions: Paul didn't have a good view of Percy because he was trying to see around four kids trying to block his view in a small and crowded bathroom. Percy's injury wasn't apparent, just the fact that he was underwater for too long, hence the lack of freaking out the others did at seeing him. And I would think that after living with Gabe Ugliano, Sally would keep a pretty clean apartment, free of pests and vermin, but you are thinking on the right track...

* * *

"_Di immortales,"_ Nico cursed.

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked. "I thought you killed it - her. Arachne."

"We did." Annabeth said. "And now every one of her precious children is after us for revenge."

"They're tracking her blood. It's like a homing beacon for them." Nico said as he looked at Annabeth and me. "And the two of you are covered in it."

"So are you." Rachel said, pointing at him. She was right. There were streaks of what was clearly Arachne's blood on his leather jacket from where he had helped carry me through the window. I thought of Tyson, crying alone in my room. He probably had it on him, too.

Nico glared at the two of us while he shrugged off his jacket and threw it into a ball in the corner by the tub. It was on his t-shirt as well. "You've led them straight to us," he accused as he pulled out his sword.

Annabeth bristled. "It's not like we had time to go shopping for a new wardrobe," she snapped. "I had to get Percy here so he wouldn't die on my watch. It's not like it's my fault he got himself poisoned."

_Hey, _I wanted to say. _It's not like it's my fault either. _

"You might as well drop him in the ocean next time," Nico said. "He might prefer dying there to getting eaten alive in his own tub. Same result and half of the trouble."

Annabeth pulled out her own knife and looked dismally at the blunt blade. "I'll do that," she said, mostly to herself. "I'll be sure to dump you in with him."

Nico looked like he was going to respond, but Rachel cut him off. "How long until they get here?" She sounded like she was trying very hard to sound calm.

"It could be any time." Annabeth was hefting Riptide in her other hand now, getting used to its weight. "We left the majority of them a couple of miles back, but every spider between here and there will be heading here, too." A tiny brown spider crawled out of the cabinet just then to prove her point. It made a straight line across the floor to the tub and toward me before it was killed. Annabeth was a little pale as she stared at the spot where Rachel's foot had crushed it. I don't think she was happy at the thought of fighting more spiders. "Tyson will let us know when they come," she said, and then she lifted her eyes to Rachel. "You should go now, mortal girl, while you have the chance."

"So I can make it two steps before I'm covered in killer spiders?" Rachel folded her arms. "I'm staying. What if you guys need someone to see through the Mist or something?"

Nico snorted. "They're spiders, not monsters."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue with that, then changed her mind. "They have about as much power over the Mist as you do," she told Rachel instead. "If you won't leave, then go and hide in the living room. You should be safe there."

"Seal the doors and windows with whatever you can find," Nico said. "Make it really tight so nothing can get in and everything will be fine."

Rachel looked at them suspiciously. "Fine? Really? The last person who said that to me is sitting frozen in his own bathtub." They stared at her, waiting. "Just…be careful, okay?" she told them. As she went to leave, she paused. "What about Percy?"

They looked at me, still not moving under the water in the tub. Annabeth seemed very focused on her two blades at that moment, so Nico answered, "Anything else we could do for him isn't going to matter if we can't stop those spiders from tearing him apart. We'll worry about it later."

'Worry about it later,' meant 'make sure he's still alive when nothing's trying to kill us.' It was a standard demigod motto, along with others like, "Congratulations, you managed to turn twelve! Good luck reaching thirteen."

Rachel nodded, and her footsteps sounded down the hall. There was a quiet moment while Annabeth and Nico fidgeted, changing grips on their swords, pulling at their clothes to make sure their moves wouldn't be restricted. Then Annabeth said, "I'm sorry you got involved in this."

Nico shrugged, "It's my own fault for staying here so long instead of leaving last night. I should have known something like this would happen." He scuffed his foot against the tile floor, "Just know that if I die, I _will _be coming back to haunt you. And it won't be pretty."

A smile pulled at the corner of Annabeth's mouth. "Oh yeah? Real scary stuff, huh?"

"Oh yeah," Nico agreed. "You wouldn't even believe some of the stuff I've seen." Then he paused and looked down at his shirt. "Still, I guess it would be too easy if we could just wash this off and finish eating that cake in the kitchen, instead," he said a little mournfully.

"They're going to follow the trail here no matter what, and I doubt there's time-"

"Yeah," Nico shrugged off her explanation, "I thought so."

They were interrupted by a couple of thuds coming from the direction of my room, and Tyson's voice shouting, "They are coming!"

A second later, he had backed through the broken door, closed it as best he could, and stood guard before it, waiting.

Then the spiders started pouring in. To the left, to the right, across the floor and up above their heads, a hundred or more spiders of every size and color came crawling, looking for the first chance to attack us.

Tyson jumped into action. In a second, he had crushed two of the larger spiders with his massive fists and a third had gotten trampled under his foot. For such a large guy, he was really quick. The few that managed to sneak by him met the point of Annabeth's knife.

On the other wall was Nico. He would stab a couple with his sword made of Stygian iron, then would give it a wave and the entire wall of spiders would turn into dust in its wake. Another wave of spiders took their place, but he kept going. He had only used his powers a couple of times but I could see that it was already starting to wear him out. The temperature in the small bathroom was rapidly dropping with his efforts. The water down at my feet had started to freeze over.

The colder temperature was helping to slow down the spiders, but more just kept coming. The walls shook as Tyson landed hit after hit, leaving holes where his fists had been. One managed to scramble up his arm to his shoulder, and he stumbled back and broke the sink faucet before crushing it. Annabeth used Riptide to scrape off yet another shish kabob of spiders from her knife, then brought the hilt of my sword down and crushed a hairy black one that had crawled out of one of Tyson's earlier holes.

They were doing an amazing job, but it wasn't long until one landed in Annabeth's hair, and a few managed to evade her and make it to the wall above my head as she was trying to shake it off. A particularly strong hit shook the wall hard and knocked the spiders off and into the water above my head, their orange legs flailing around as they tried to swim.

I wasn't able to do anything about it, and I was pretty tired of doing nothing. Every part of me still stubbornly refused to move, no matter how hard I tried. I stared at that spider above my face and willed that something, anything would move and get rid of it. I felt a familiar tug in my gut, and the water in the bath weakly sloshed over the side of the tub, carrying the spiders away with it.

It must have landed near Annabeth's foot. She gave a little scream and stomped on it before looking at her now wet foot, and then at me. Something like happiness and relief flitted across her face before she turned and added another twitching spider to her knife. "Percy," she said then, as Nico took out half the ceiling full of spiders, "If you can, we could really use the help!"

I concentrated back on the water again, and felt a stronger pull this time. A jet shot straight up out of the tub and hit the ceiling above me. The spiders Nico hadn't taken out were knocked down. The ones that landed in my bath water were swept out by another wave that washed into the piles of spider bodies that were starting to form around Nico, Tyson and Annabeth.

The numbers of incoming spiders were dwindling, but for every spider they killed, there was still another waiting. Tyson was taking care of the bigger ones, but some of the others that managed to get through were still big enough to take a couple of hits before crumpling up. It was starting to take its toll. Tyson and Annabeth's breaths were coming fast in little white puffs in the cold air, and Nico was using his powers less and less.

I sent a stream of water over to his wall to help him out. The spiders that weren't knocked down by the blast or disintegrated a moment later were frozen in place by the ice that formed after Nico's sword. He looked over at me tiredly and quickly gave me a small nod.

I sent out a few more bursts: near the door, above Tyson's head, on the floor, wherever I could help. I tried to keep the water from spilling out of the bathroom. The ground was covered in spider bodies, and any still alive would be drowned in the rising water.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, the spider attack stopped. Two last spiders crawled past the door frame. One met the hilt of Riptide, the other disappeared into a new wall crater courtesy of a Cyclops fist.

Everyone but me was breathing hard. "Is that it?" Nico asked.

"For now, I think," Annabeth replied. Tyson found the water shut off valve, and water quit spewing from the broken faucet in the sink.

I commanded the water to push me up into a sitting position. A bunch of it sloshed over the side of the tub as my head broke the surface. The others watched me not moving while I tried desperately to blink, or twitch, or do _something_.

"That is Percy in there, right?" said Nico, sounding nervous. "The venom wouldn't have taken over his brain or anything?"

"I doubt it would have found much to work with if it had." Between Arachne and the massive hoard of spiders, it sounded like Annabeth was out of patience for the day. She bent over, looked at me and said, "Come on, Seaweed Brain, try harder." Then with her finger, she flicked me, hard, between the eyes.

I blinked. It was involuntary, but I moved. I tried it again. And again. Annabeth raised her eyebrows and I realized I was batting my eyes at her. I looked away, hoping I hadn't turned red, and tried to wiggle my foot. The toes in my right foot curled in response. It wasn't much, but to me it felt like my feet had sprouted wings. After a few tries, I made a fist, then relaxed it and moved each one of my fingers.

"Woa-" I croaked, then coughed up all the water that had made its way down my throat. The salt made it sting as it came back up. The ice covering my feet started to crack as I moved my legs a little more. I took a deep breath; it felt great. "Oh, wow."

Down the hall, we heard a door slowly open, then three pairs of footsteps raced to us. When she saw me sitting up and moving, my mom let out a breath, smiled, and leaned against the door frame in relief. Rachel said, "So you _are_ fine," at the same time another voice said, "What is going on?"

We all looked at Paul standing behind them. His eyes were wide as he took in everything. I can't imagine how it looked. Even for us, it was a pretty strange sight.

The room was wrecked. There were holes in the walls from Tyson's punches and Nico and Annabeth's knives. Water was dripping everywhere and the four of us were soaked. The sink faucet was broken, and the mirror and wall around it were covered in ice. On the floor was a few hundred spider carcasses and a few inches of water, which was now leaking out past their feet.

A spider that had hidden behind the dripping towel hanging from the towel rack crawled out and made a break for it. Nico smashed it against the wall with his foot while trying not to draw attention to himself. We all looked bedraggled, wet, and tired. Oh, and I was still sitting fully clothed in the bathtub.

"What happened in here?" Paul finally asked. "Percy- are you kids all right? Sally, do you need someone to call the building superintendent so they can do something about this? I have no idea how this could happen, it's so bizarre..." He broke off and looked at us again. No one really met his gaze.

I looked at my mom. She looked at me. We were thinking the same thing. We had already decided to tell Paul about me, about my dad, about everything, but I don't think either of us thought that it would be this soon.

"Paul?" my mom said, facing him finally. "What have I told you about…Percy's other side of the family?"

* * *

"Unbelievable," Paul said an hour later after we had all moved into the living room. "I mean just…wow. Poseidon. I met him." Did he really believe it? I couldn't be completely sure, but he seemed willing to trust my mom and me and go along with what we had told him. I had a feeling it would take something else, something that couldn't be explained before it would really sink in, but he hadn't gotten mad or walked out, at least.

He took another bite of his chocolate chip cookie, then frowned, swallowed, and looked at my mom. After a minute he said, "Those are some pretty big shoes to fill."

Mom took his hand in hers. "Your feet do just fine," she said. They had a moment where they just looked at each other and none of the rest of us really wanted to look at them.

My mom had also been great about everything that happened. When I had felt bad for trashing the apartment, she had just waved it away and said that she had wanted to redecorate the bathroom and I had needed to clean my room, anyway. I didn't have to look at the expressions on Nico and Annabeth to know that I was lucky. Not every demigod's parent would have taken it so well.

I finally faked a cough and they remembered that rest of us was still there. "Right," Paul cleared his throat and continued, "so if that's true for Percy, then the rest of you…" his eyes fell on Annabeth and Nico sitting on the couch next to me. The three of us each had a square of ambrosia. For me, it tasted just like the cookies on the coffee table.

Annabeth set her square down to answer. "Athena," she said, "my mother is Athena." She looked better now than I had seen her all day. She was wearing some of my old clothes and her hair, still a little damp, had been combed and pulled back in a ponytail.

Long showers with lots of scrubbing had gotten rid of every last trace of Arachne's blood, and the ambrosia was helping to heal the rest of the bumps and scrapes. There hadn't been a second spider attack, and we were pretty sure there wouldn't be another. We had concluded that all the water spraying around had diluted the blood enough so the spiders couldn't find us anymore.

Both my room and what was left of the bathroom had been completely scoured, so any spider looking for blood would end up crawling in the sewer. All our clothes had been tossed into the building's incinerator just to be safe, except for Nico's jacket.

Nico had argued and fought with us over his jacket while Mom broke the news to Paul. He had ended up carefully washing the blood off of it with nectar and laundry soap before putting it back on. He was sulkily stroking the discolored mark the blood had left, when Paul turned to him. Nico hesitated, then said, "Hades," watching closely for his reaction.

But Paul just nodded his head. Then he turned to Rachel. "And you, Rachel?"

Rachel looked up, surprised. "Oh no," she said. Paul looked a little relieved. "Not me. My parents aren't gods. They spend all their time at a country club or at a real estate office, both of them."

"Oh," Paul said, raising his eyebrows, "Dare…" he muttered. It looked like he was just making the connection between Rachel and her dad, who was a rich real estate tycoon. If anything, it seemed that Rachel's parents disturbed him more than mine did. "Well," he clapped his hands after a moment, "are there any other surprises for me? How about you, Tyson? I've already met your dad, haven't I? Are you going to tell me you cheated at Monopoly? Or that you're a Red Sox fan?"

Tyson looked Paul in the eye confused, "No, I am a Cyclops," he said, dead serious.

The look on Paul's face was so funny, I couldn't help it; I laughed really hard. And then I couldn't stop. I clapped Tyson on the shoulder as the others joined in.

It wasn't all that funny, but I realized that sitting around our coffee table right then, was a lot like being at camp. There was no pretending, and everyone knew who and what you were. Everyone was so relieved that we had all lived through the day, and my mom and I were glad Paul had been able to handle the truth about me, that it just felt good to laugh.

"Unbelievable," Paul said finally, when we had caught out breaths. "And the way you all handle it…it's impressive."

My mom nodded. "They are very good, " she agreed. "I only wish," she said looking at all of us, "that they would try to be a little more careful." She looked directly at me then. "You're not invincible, you know."

I very carefully avoided looking at Nico just then. Instead I held my breath and hoped that he didn't say anything. Thankfully, he didn't. It probably had something to do with the entire cookie he was trying to eat in one bite.

There was a buzzing noise, and we all looked at Rachel. She was the only one of us who would have a cell phone with her. She pulled it out, looked at it and stood up. "That's my ride," she said, brushing the crumbs off of her jeans. "I'd better go."

I got up and followed her to the door. Once outside, she turned around, pursed her lips and fixed me with a stern look. "So, you started out going to the movies with me,"

"Yes," I said, not sure where this was going.

"And ended up fighting a thousands of year old giant spider,"

"Yeah…"

"And having your bathroom invaded."

"Uh huh."

Then she smiled, "And this is just a normal day for you?"

"Not quite." I said. "Usually it's my classroom that gets invaded. Once it was a bus."

Rachel laughed. "At least I won't be bored this year."

I grinned. "Probably not. Although I'll warn you, if you are going to be hanging around me, there's a pretty good chance you'll wind up expelled."

Rachel waved her hand. "That's not a problem. My dad's got a whole list of private schools he wants me to attend."

"You might be at one of them next year, then."

"That would take something drastic," Rachel said, making a face. Then her phone buzzed again. "Fine, I'm coming," she said to it.

"I'll see you soon, then," I said.

"Right." She raised her voice. "Goodbye, Mrs. Jackson, Mr. Blofis."

"See you in school, Rachel," we heard Paul say.

She told me, "Bye," and started down the stairs. Her voice drifted back up behind her. "You know, you could call me too. The phone works both ways, and I know you know my number."

* * *

AN: So, just the wrap-up left and this story will be done! Let me know what you thought.


	6. Annabeth Explains It All

AN: Last part, hooray! Thanks to all of you who have kept with this story all the way through, especially those of you who signed up for the alerts or added it to your favorites.

And a special thank you very much to all the great reviewers who consistently gave me feedback on each and every part, such as AnimalBuddy32, speedyteeny, Xover Queen, and Frenzi99 who reviewed the last part. You guys and your questions are awesome.

* * *

I shut the door and headed back to the living room. The only ones left were Paul, my mom and Nico, who was helping himself to the rest of the cookies. My mom handed him the plate. "Take them with you," she told him.

Nico looked surprised and grabbed the plate as he stood up. He started to walk into my room. "Hey, the front door's this way," I told him, jerking my thumb over my shoulder.

"Fire escape's this way," Nico said as he pointed ahead of him. Then he stopped, turned around and looked in my mom's direction. "You let me stay here, and the cake, and the cookies…" he mumbled awkwardly, as he scuffed his foot against the carpet, "thanks."

My mom smiled. "Anytime you want to come back, Nico," she said, "the fire escape is always open."

Nico nodded his head then jerked it at me to show that he wanted to talk alone. I braced myself and walked with him into my room. He set the plate on my dresser, and stuffed six of the cookies into a pocket of his jacket.

"Take it easy," I said. "They're not going anywhere."

"I am,' Nico said defensively. "And I don't know when I'll see cookies again. Especially homemade ones that are still warm and soft..." he looked at the last one a little wistfully as he pocketed it with the rest. Then he turned to me, all business, and asked, "Well? Will you do it?"

I looked at the floor, then out the window. Anywhere but at him. I had been trying to avoid this conversation all day. "I don't know yet."

Nico sputtered. "You don't know? What are you waiting for?"

I rounded on him. "I don't know!" What did he think he was doing, dropping this on me last night and expecting me to have an answer today? "Let's just give it some time, okay?"

Nico looked at me like I was crazy. "Time for what? Does anyone else have a better idea? This is the only way I know of that you'll stand a chance." He folded his arms. "Jeez, you're the last person I thought would be afraid of a little water."

I gave a harsh laugh. His plan was about a lot more than a little water, and Nico knew it.

"Okay," he sighed. "Let me know when you do decide." He climbed out the window, then looked back in. "You know, maybe up here you can forget, but there are people out there _dying. _I watch them arrive in the Underworld, every day. You can do something about it, if you would just make the choice."

The choice. The prophecy. The war. I shut my eyes and said. "I'll let you know." When I opened them, Nico was gone from the fire escape. I climbed out the window and looked down at the stairs underneath that led down to the street. He was nowhere to be seen.

There were footsteps on the stairs above me, then Annabeth's voice asked, "Did Nico leave?"

"I guess so," I said. She came down the stairs and looked over the railing with me.

"You know, I don't like the idea of Nico wandering around on his own," she said. "There's all kinds of trouble he can get himself into."

"He's been out there for months now, and he's been fine," I said. "If you don't count the whole Minos and the Ghost King incident. I'd say his life has been relatively boring - at least compared to ours."

"I'm serious." She turned towards me. "He's only what, eleven? It's dangerous out there, especially now, especially for him. He could get killed, or worse."

I shrugged. "If that's how you feel, then you tell him that." Nico was going to do what he wants.

Annabeth looked back down the fire escape. "Nico's already had an older sister. I don't think he's looking for another."

I glanced at her. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing. I just think he should be at camp right now."

I rolled my eyes, "He said it himself. He doesn't fit in there. Hades doesn't even have a cabin."

Annabeth shrugged. "He can use the Hermes cabin. That's what it's there for. For travelers and visitors."

"Right," I said sarcastically. "Because staying in the Hermes cabin has worked so well at keeping kids out of trouble in the past."

Annabeth flinched and didn't say anything else. There was a long, uncomfortable pause while we fidgeted and didn't look at each other. I felt guilty, I hadn't meant to bring up Luke. And I definitely hadn't wanted to hurt her. I risked a glance out of the corner of my eye. She had her arms wrapped around her and was bent over the rail staring fixedly at something down below like she was fighting back tears. She was wearing a really old, faded blue shirt of mine and, even though it fit me just fine, just then when she was wearing it she seemed very small. Looking at her, I wanted to take it all back, every word, but I had no idea what I could say.

"Look-" I started at the same time Annabeth said, "What was Rachel doing here?"

That brought me up short. "What?"

Annabeth made a face and turned towards me. "Rachel. Mortal girl, with red hair and clothes that look like she's lost a paintball tournament? She was in your apartment when we got here."

"Oh," I said, "right. We had gone to a movie earlier. We were on our way back when Arachne showed up. I asked her to tell my mom where I was."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. I shot her a look. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

I didn't like that she was making a big deal out of this. "It was just a movie, all right? I wanted out of the apartment, and she asked, so I went. That's all."

She shrugged. "Fine," she said airily. "It's not like it really matters to me."

I looked away. "That didn't stop you from asking," I muttered.

Annabeth ignored me. A couple of blocks away, an alarm went off. The fire escape was starting to feel uncomfortably warm in the heat, even though the sun was starting to sink behind the buildings. I scratched my elbow, looked up at the roof, and wondered how Blackjack was doing.

Beside me, Annabeth shifted. Her foot bumped a canvas bag sitting in the corner, and that reminded me. "What are you here for, anyway? Blackjack said you were coming to see me."

She bent down and grabbed the bag. "We were. Chiron has some reports that he wants you to read. He says that it's important to keep us informed while we're gone." She took out a stack of papers out of the bag and dropped them into my hands. "He asked me to bring you the first set."

I groaned. "Like I wasn't going to have enough homework this year."

Annabeth zipped up her bag. I caught a glimpse of the laptop Deadalus had given her resting inside it. "Get used to it," she said shortly. "The war has started, and I can guarantee that Kronos isn't just sitting around worrying about memorizing the Bill of Rights." She frowned. "Camp was attacked, Percy. It was almost _invaded. _We can't wait for them to try it again."

I glanced down at stack of papers. Right on top was a report from Grover, detailing how he was trying to train the other satyrs to use Panic, but that there was no luck, yet. I suddenly really missed that satyr. I wanted to talk to my best friend. I thought about what Nico had said, about more people showing up in the Underworld, and realized that she was right. Kronos wasn't going to wait until next summer, and neither could we.

I looked back up at her, "Anything else?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Mr. D said, and I quote, 'If Peter Johnson loses any of this sensitive information and it falls into enemy hands, I will personally see to it that he spends the rest of his life thinking he is a fruit bat.'"

I reached through the window and carefully placed the papers on my desk where they wouldn't blow away. "Thanks for letting me know," I said.

"Yeah, well, you're slightly more useful to us when you're in your right mind. However little that is."

I chose to ignore that. My attention was caught by something else she was holding. "Is that my school project?" She was holding my old model of the Washington Monument made out of sugar cubes. It was in two pieces now, and the bottom half was almost tipped over. Parts of smashed sugar cubes lay all around it inside the box.

Annabeth glanced down at it, too. "Your mom gave it to us. Tyson said we should give it to Blackjack, because he was expecting it." She nudged the bottom part with her finger and it fell over. "Of course, when we brought it to him, we found out he didn't want it, after all. Something to do with it being covered in glue." She looked up at me.

I ran my hand through my hair. "I forgot about the glue." Whoops. "Oh man, he's going to make me pay for that one. I'm going to owe him sugar cubes until I'm forty."

Annabeth shook her head. "We cleaned your mom out of all the sugar she had in the apartment. Tyson's up there now smoothing things over. And it's Blackjack, so he'll forgive you." She looked down at her watch. "I wasn't planning on this taking so long. I have to go, or I'm going to be late getting home."

"You're going back to San Francisco," I said. _To look for Luke,_ I thought.

She lifted her chin and looked me in the eye. "There's a lot I can do there. Someone needs to gather intel about what's going on with Mt. Tam."

That wasn't her only reason. I tried to find something else to talk about. "And you're taking Blackjack there?" I said angrily. Taking my pegasus, at least, I could still get mad about.

Annabeth blinked. "No, you idiot," she snapped. "I'm flying there. Out of JFK. On an _airplane._"

I hadn't thought of that. "Oh," was all I could find to say.

"Yeah, that stupid feeling you have right now? Go with it." Annabeth scoffed. Then her mouth formed a small smirk. "Turns out traveling across the country is a lot easier without you."

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. "You know you wanted me to come along."

"Oh, and you know you wanted to come," she said. "I couldn't have stopped you." The flower box on the other side of the fire escape had her attention right now. She stared at it unhappily for a couple of seconds, then snapped to attention and swung her bag over her shoulder. "I'd better go."

She had climbed halfway back through the window into my room when I grabbed hold of her arm. "Hey." She looked up at me with wide grey eyes.

"Watch your back there," I told her. "No matter what, San Francisco's not the safest place to be right now."

She nodded and pulled her arm away. "You too. You're not exactly low profile, you know." She swung the rest of the way into the room.

"I'd say I'd call if I needed help, but-"

She interrupted. "Write me. Or Iris Message. Chiron's bound to have a mission for us soon." She started for the door.

I called out something a little stupid like, "Till the next raid, then," and watched as she waved goodbye and headed into the hall. I could hear the sound of her voice as she talked to my mom and Paul, and then the door closing as she left the apartment.

It wasn't long before Tyson made his way down from the roof. There was a familiar looking pearl dwarfed in his massive hands. "Are you leaving me too, buddy?" I asked.

Tyson nodded. "Daddy needs me to help. Lots of fighting in his kingdom. They need a lot of swords."

I was a little jealous of him, and not just because he got to visit Poseidon's undersea palace, which I had heard was awesome. At least Tyson knew his part in the war, knew what he had to do and who he had to be. And he could do it too. The weapons Tyson made were amazing, and had saved my life more than once. He didn't have to worry about everyone depending on him to do something completely impossible. All he had to do was stay in the forge and keep cranking out those swords.

Tyson picked up on my mood. "Maybe I can come back later to visit."

"Yeah," I said, still distracted, "that would be great."

"And maybe we can play Monopoly."

"Sure. Whatever you want."

"Maybe next time I will let you win."

Wait. I blinked. What? I turned around on him and raised my eyebrows. "Tyson, are you giving me trash talk?"

Tyson had on a grin that stretched the entire width of his face. "You lost so fast!" he howled gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And I had all your money!"

"Yeah," I admitted, trying to save face. "Well, you just wait until next time, buddy. Once I get my hands of Boardwalk and Park Place, I'll be unstoppable."

Tyson shook his head still smiling. He bent down and put his hand on my shoulder. "It is not Boardwalk that is important," he said like he was imparting great words of wisdom. "It is the Marvin Gardens." Then he crushed the pearl in his hand and disappeared in a sea breeze.

It was a while before I went inside again. As I made my way through my room and into the hallway the walls seemed to echo with my footsteps. The place seemed so empty. My feet squished as I came to the carpet outside of the bathroom, still slightly wet from the battle, and I took another look inside. Wow. Even after we had cleaned up in there, it was still a disaster.

When you survive long enough as a demigod, you get used to your life being in danger and you and your friends almost dying. So I don't know why looking at the bathroom made me so mad, except, well this was the first time that I could remember where the monsters had attacked me in my home.

I had always been safe at home, and I knew that made me one of the lucky ones. School was a deathtrap, walking the streets was walking to almost certain disaster, and chances were that the little old lady on the other side of the bus wanted to remove my kidneys as much as she wanted to talk about her visit to the doctor. But when I had been in my apartment, in my room, with my mom, I had never felt afraid or in danger; sometimes I even felt normal.

The door to the bathroom sagged a little more in its frame while I watched. Not anymore, I guess. If it could happen here, it could happen anywhere. I had almost died in that tub. Annabeth could have died in that alleyway if I hadn't just happened to be there to help.

The TV in the living room turned on so I headed that way to check it out. Paul was seated in a chair and was holding the remote, flicking through the channels before settling on a baseball game. I sprawled out on the couch and joined him. I kept my face turned towards the TV, but my thoughts were turned to something else.

Annabeth. Nico and Tyson and me. All the others at Camp Half-Blood. We were all spread out now, and that seemed like a very bad idea. What Annabeth had said about Kronos had been true. He was going to keep attacking and gathering his forces, and you could bet he wasn't letting them just run around the country. They were all cozied up on the Princess Andromeda, the giant cruise ship of misery, while we were all alone and vulnerable, practically begging to be picked off one by one.

"So you never did tell me," Paul said, breaking into my thoughts as a commercial came on. He turned down the sound on the TV. "What was the real story behind that fire bombing cheerleader?" It may take a little more to completely convince him that the gods were real, but at least he was willing to trust us and play along until then. Paul was a good guy.

It took me a minute to remember what he was talking about. "An empousa," I said, watching his face as he registered the word, "she and her friend were sent to bring me in." Or kill me, either way would have worked.

"I see," Paul said, swallowing hard. After a minute he added, "You will tell me if any more of my students are mythological monsters, I hope?"

"Sure," I said, a little surprised. I hesitated a second, and then added, "But you should probably know that it isn't the students that normally turn out to be the monsters. It's the teachers." I decided to turn back to the commercials as that revelation washed over him.

But Paul was already nodding and turning the sound back up. "In that case," he said as the game came back on, "I've got a few colleagues you might want to check out."

I nodded to show that I heard, and thought of the others again. Did things like that constantly happen to them, or was it just me? Did Clarisse ever look up during class and decide that she had better take out her chemistry teacher? Did Beckendorf ever find out the janitor knew a little bit too much about ancient weapons? What were the chances I would see them at camp next summer? Probably a lot less than they were last year.

I knew Annabeth was going to have a hard time. Eight months ago she would have given anything to avoid living in San Francisco, and now she was insisting on it. I could feel the frustration building up in me again. She never listened. She was completely blinded to the situation, and convinced that she was right. She couldn't accept that I might have a better handle on things for once, and she was obsessed because of what her stupid prophecy had told her.

At least we would be keeping in touch a little more than we usually do. Chiron's stack of papers on my desk proved that. I wondered if he was going to send out pop quizzes to make sure they got read_. Question 1: Where are Kronos' forces currently located? Question 2: Besides maiming, murder and mayhem, what is their objective when they reach their destination?_

A loud thud came from the bathroom and I jumped to my feet. If I craned my neck, I could just see that the door had finally fallen and now lay on the bathroom floor. That was all it had been. Signaling to Paul that everything was alright, I settled back down on the couch, and tried to continue to feel angry at Annabeth.

I couldn't. And then I realized I shouldn't. If the second Titan war had really started, then we were in more danger than ever, and I found all those conversations with Annabeth, even the ones where we yelled or she insulted me or we had ended up not speaking to one another, to be kind of important, some of the most valuable things I had. And we all needed to be united now, even if we weren't together.

The baseball game got steadily blurrier as my eyelids drooped and I smothered a yawn. It was still early, but it had been a really long day. I checked my pocket one more time for Riptide, and then closed my eyes.

The truth was that stuff like this happened to us all the time. Being a demigod was hard and dangerous enough on a good day. This Titan war was just going to make things that much more difficult for half-bloods everywhere, and that wasn't right. It needed to end, and soon. That was one of two thoughts I held onto as I fell asleep. That we needed to win, and that we needed to do it soon. The other was, what would I risk by getting out of bed tomorrow?

* * *

AN: The end. Questions? Comments? Let me know in a review or with a message. Thank you again for reading!


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